I’ve been AWOL lately and here’s why. The first draft of Still UnNamed Burger Heaven #2 wasn’t going well. Shocking, I know because everybody’s first draft goes so swimmingly.
A flash of genius hit me on an acceptable form of procrastination. Plus, I really wanted to pursue it. Maybe you’ve considered tackling the same endeavor….
I turned my novel into a screenplay, then entered it into a contest.
Yep, Pennies from Burger Heaven the book, is now a screenplay. Squeals, jubilation, confetti falling from the sky!
Right?
Wrong. Groans, torture, I felt like I was burning in the pits of hell. Writing a novel is hard work, but writing a screenplay might even be harder.
Why?
It requires a whole different set of creative skills. We’ll talk about those, as well as the screenplay software (free) and books (not free) I used to make it happen.
The Austin Film Festival
Summer of 2015, I’d finished Pennies from Burger Heaven for the hundredth time, and abused myself with yet another round of, “Do I publish this myself, or query agents again?”
Then, I remembered the Austin Film Festival Annual screenplay competition. The Festival was founded in 1993. Its screenplay competition is very prestigious and receives a staggering number of entries. In 2015, they had a total of 8,627 scripts for Screenplays (film)/Teleplays (TV)! They have many success stories of contest finalists and winners getting their screenplays optioned (a production company paying for the exclusive right to hold onto your screenplay for specific period; it’s like having ‘dibs’.). Other contest scripts have made it all the way to the big screen.
Sadly, the contest deadline had already passed. Grrrrrr…
I thought, Well, I’ll just work on my screenplay ‘on the side’ over the next year. You know, in all my free time.
Ha. That didn’t happen. I didn’t type one word.
Meanwhile, I found SkipJack Publishing for my novel, and got lost in the whirlwind of a book launch.
Fast forward to March 2016. As first draft of Burger Heaven #2 struggled, I remembered the AFF Screenplay Competition once again. The deadline was May 20, 2016 — just 7.5 weeks away! I decided to go for it.
Here are the three main differences between writing novels and screenplays:
1. A Screenplay is a Compressed Version of a Novel
OMG. This is such a painful fact. You must delete portions of your book, entire subplots! For readers of Pennies, Mai Wong and Copper in their secret phone-booth hangout? Gone.
You must think of the central question to your story, then find the right visuals to illustrate that point, over and over.
For example, the central question to Pennies is, “Will Copper Daniels live long enough to find her mama?”
A typical screenplay is 90 – 120 pages since a typical movies is 90 – 120 minutes long.
My screenplay first draft was a whopping 168 pages!
There are 2.75 hour-long movies out there, but not for newbies like moi. The AFF doesn’t disqualify entries over 120 pages, but it makes you look like amateur, so I had to cut, cut, cut.
2. Novels and Screenplays are Different Formats
You know those rare but beautiful moments where you get swept away writing a novel? When the words just flow from you. I found that was impossible to do in the screenplay because I had to keep switching in my brain between: SCENE HEADING, DIALOGUE, ACTION.
See the photograph below:
SCENE HEADING: EXTERIOR OF EX PAWN – DAYTIME.
ACTION: Copper kicks the can…
DIALOGUE: COPPER and TURDMOUTH.
Please note, with the above example:
* Dialogue – is about three lines (look how much shorter dialogue is than the rest of the script!).
*Action – is about five lines.
You can go longer, but you should strives to say within those parameters.
3. Less is More for Screenplays
In novels, you’re encouraged to use sensory description to make the story come alive: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.
In screenplays, you only write what you can see or hear.
There’s no introspection.
Additionally, describe just enough to visually convey your characters or scenes. Do not over describe. That’s for the director to decide.
Copper Daniels is the heroine of my entire book, yet all I say about her: COPPER DANIELS, (11), wakes up in her sleeping bag, exhausted. A few red curls peek out from her hand-me-down hoodie.
A novel is the author’s finished product (with help from an editor). A screenplay is the film’s beginning blueprint. Big difference.
Free Screenplay Software
I already knew the basics of a screenplay writing because I did it once before. In 2001, my story Beyond East and West (another unpublished novel of mine) won Best Screenplay at the Southwest Writers Conference in Albuquerque. Still, that was over 15 years ago. I’d forgotten so much more than I remembered.
You need special software to write a screenplay. Whatever I used back then, that computer was long gone. I had to start over. Screenplay software can be both complicated and expensive. I like simple and found Amazon Storywriter. It’s free, with helpful tutorials.
Screenwriting Books
I bought Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. It’s a short and user-friendly. I also read Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger. It’s longer and more cumbersome, but an actual screenwriter friend recommended it. It’s well done.
Screenplay Hell
I think the only reason I was able to write a script in less than two months is because I had my novel complete, so I already knew all the plot points, or ‘beats’ as they say in screenplay lingo. My screenwriter friend planned to critique my screenplay. He wrote for NYPD Blue, Law & Order Special Victims Unit, JAG, and The Bold and the Beautiful.
That didn’t happen because he left for Europe for three weeks before I had a respectable draft completed. I was on my own. Yikes!
The talented Jennifer Archer, author of Through Her Eyes and Sandwiched is a friend. She sat through two readings of my screenplay (each session was 2.5 hours)! Reading my script outloud to someone else made all the difference in the world! It helped me hear and see what could be changed, compressed or deleted. Thanks to Jenny, I cut 50 pages!
The day of the contest deadline, I cleared my calendar, took the day off from work, and got to my computer by 3:15 a.m., still in my pajamas. Not intentionally, I just woke up and decided to take advantage of it. It was 4 p.m. when I turned in my screenplay — minus getting the kids ready for school, lunch and bathroom breaks, that was 14 hours of polishing!
My final screenplay is 105 pages!
It was a torturous process, but I’m so glad I did it.
My Goal
To make it past the first round of judging. That’s a long shot with 8,627 entries in 2015 and only had 728 ‘Second Rounders’. Crazy! I’ll know by the end of September how I did. Regardless, I’ll receive about feedback from the judges.
I’m going to Austin, Baby!
I also signed up to participate in the Pitch Competition at the Austin Film Festival, October 13 – 16, 2016, in Austin, Texas. I’ll stand in front of a panel of judges and a room full of strangers to give a 90-second pitch of Pennies from Burger Heaven. I made it to the finals in 2005 when I pitched Beyond East & West to the judges, so I know how TERRIFYING it is.
Why am I doing this?
Insanity. Because you must be willing to go way beyond your comfort zone in order to make your dreams come true. Wish me luck!
Have you ever considered writing a screenplay?
Please leave comment. Let’s talk.
Pick up your FREE copy today of the mystery, The Moon Rises at Dawn (SkipJack Publishing). Read, enjoy, repeat.
Wow Marcie!! You know how to make the push and get your project done!! I know you’ll give a great pitch for Copper and friends!
Thanks, Helen. I’m crazy nervous about Austin, but I know I’m doing the right thing and appreciate friends like you cheering me on!
Marcy, that’s amazing!! One day, you must share your secrets to getting so much accomplished. I am in awe!
I have a gazillion things on the go right now and, honestly, I feel like most days are like molasses for progress on any of them. Hmm … maybe I just answered my own question! (Goal: reduce from a gazillion to a few! LOL)
T.O. I know the feeling! Good luck with your project/s too! 🙂
You’re sweet, T.O., but please recall…I totally blew off Burger Heaven #2. It’s cool what I did, but was partial procrastination for what I was SUPPOSED to be doing. Still, YAY! I wrote a screenplay! 🙂
And, yes! You probably need to drop some things from your To Do list. Me, too. Good luck to us both!
I for one am SO darn PROUD of you! I know Pennies two will be great and I can’t wait to see Pennies one the movie! Good luck sweetie! You will ROCK Austin!
From your lips to God’s mouth! Woohoo! Thanks for your encouragement.
Marcy- what a fabulous article. I will be keeping you in my prayers that this does get made into a screen play. As you know I’m totally in love with this book and would be one of the 1st in line to see it. Many pursuers and best wishes from me to you.
What a sweetheart you, Tonya. Who knows is Pennies will ever become a movie, but I did what a felt called to do, and that’s write a screenplay. I’ll take any prayers I can get.
Gosh! You are astounding! So much drive and so much productivity! I have thought about screenwriting (not necessarily an existing story), because very often, while writing, I see the scenes in my head and I know exactly what they need to look like but sometimes struggle with finding the right words to put on the page. That problem gone – left to the director – sounds excellent to me. But I do realise there’s much more to be considered when switching from one form to another. And I’m sure transferring a ready story from one to the other is even harder, so kudos to you and best of luck in Austin!! 🙂
Oh, and thanks for sharing this! 🙂
Thanks, Yoanna. You make an interesting point. Some stories (regardless if they’re existing or not) lend themselves better to screenplays, while others are best as novels. Some can be both.
It’s up to you to decide what’s right for each story.
THIS. IS. AWESOME. CONGRATS!!! (And thanks for sharing your find about Amazon Storywriter — I’ve been looking for something!)
There are other free screenplay programs…just google it. Amazon Storywriter just seem the easiest, which is totally what I needed.
Get to it. You’d be an AMAZING screenwriter. Seriously. xo – Mudpie Marcy
Grats Marcy 🙂 (still Miriam here just haven’t changed the me thing) There really is no secret, you just have to be able to put your but in your chair and do the work. Great job at doing that screen play! I’m doing some scary things too but it’s better then letting them sit undone. I entered Joe’s spring contest and Bryan’s blog contest for his Writer’s Crushing doubt thing. (Joe bunting and Bryan Hutchinson.) We’ll have to see how I did as they both come to a close. Again congrats marcy!
Sweet Miriam!
You’re so right on both accounts. Whatever it is we’re doing…writing, studying for exam, training for a marathon…it’s just about matter of DOING IT. It’s not easy…it doesn’t happen overnight, but baby steps is the key.
Congrats on entering both contests. Of course, it’ll be beyond cool if we win, or even final, but truly, the victory is just trying. Our writing improves every time we share our work with others. YEA US!
If you are going to tackle this, my suggestion is to start with short stories and remember to think outside the box. If the story is genre the task is easier than literary fiction, but in either case the screen play rarely does more than provide a glimps into the novel. I wrote one from a Dean Koontz novel and have written a couple from short stories. Be advised the competition is brutal. There are a lot of lazy would be novelists who tend to clutter up screenplay competitions.
Precious Marcy. You are and always have been nonstop incredible. Thank you for sharing your brilliance with the rest of us normal achievers. If anybody can write and get a screenplay produced it is you. I believe in you.
Hello to the woman who’s raised me since I was five.
NONSTOP INCREDIBLE. I so love that sentiment, and wish I believed it, but like most writers, I sit at my computer typing away…all while worrying that it’s not good enough. I’m not good enough. I think it’s human nature.
I love appreciate your belief in me and am going to start re-hard wiring my brain to see me like you see me: NONSTOP INCREDIBLE! 🙂
I love you, Sally Allen.
Solid advice, Louis. Thanks for always sharing your expertise. You’re the best!
I’ve spent much of my free time over the years attending screenwriting courses in London in the hope of getting a better understanding of ‘story’. For me, Mariner Software’s ‘Contour’ summarises the points I have found most useful in drafting my novel. It’s only a start but I want to write a novel which would be cinematic enough to have a wide appeal. I can only agree that the best a script can do is to form an outline. Not such a bad idea! Well done, Marcy, you are streets ahead!
Hi, Marcy!
My experience[s] ref: novel/drama dichotomy [I’ve been waiting for AGES for an excuse to use that word!! 🙂 ] are different to those you describe, but it’s been an amazing ride … !
My Alma Mater [Hope College, Univ. of Liverpool] offer a Playwriting Prize biennially. The reason they DON’T do this every year is because the Winner is GUARANTEED a Full Production in the 12 months following the competition.
I started writing a YA novel[la] early this year, and it was coming along nicely …
until various snatches of MUSIC began to intrude while I was writing, riffs and the occasional line of lyrics which I found more and more difficult to ignore.
Then I got an e-mail (through the Alumni Club) reminding me of this year’s competition. Something clicked, and I realised that the “irritating” music was part-and-parcel of the story I was writing …
In an intense, insane, insomniac month, the Novella was transmogrified into a Rock Opera, for a teenage cast and (hopefully!) the approval of a predominantly teen/YA audience! Short List (10) to be announced late July, this year there were 896 entries.
Hot off the Press! E-mail this week from someone who read another piece (11th C. Historical Fantasy) and thinks it might make a decent FILM … 🙂
How cool that we’ve recently been through similar experiences, Paul. Isn’t that interesting that you “heard” the music before you realized it was part of your screenplay. Good luck with your contest!
Marcy, I have considered it, especially since my first published novel was based on a movie, but like you said in the beginning, it will probably become another reason to procrastinate writing my short stories, and current 2 novels on my current project schedule . . . still, might be something to consider in the future. I always thought script would be easier to write because all the gesturing, description, and sensory details can be told rather than shown. Guess I could be wrong. (been there before many times). Best of luck with your endeavor!
Both novels and screenplays are hard, just in different ways. I’m so glad I did it, but I’m done with procrastination, it’s back to Book #2…NO MATTER WHAT!
Marcy, Thanks for sharing your path! I’ve had in the back of my mind to write a screenplay for my Henrietta The Dragon Slayer book, so I’d at least have my vision in a possible movie that I’d love have made some day. But I thought I needed to know something … more. Reading about your process helped me see that when I’m ready I can totally write a screenplay. I even have the two books you mention, and have read Seeger’s book. (So helpful for story structure in general.) Writing a screenplay is not a *now* project, or even one in the foreseeable future. It’s still on the *one day* list. I still have a final novel in my YA fantasy trilogy to publish in a few weeks, and a new paranormal romance series to get off the ground next.
Wow, Beth, you’re a busy woman. You’re correct, you TOTALLY can write a screenplay. My gosh, you already have the two books I mentioned. When the time comes (and you’ll know it), you will be READY! Good luck!
No, Marcy, That was not what I was told to do. IT WAS TO WRITING EBOOKS STORIES ONLY. Have a great weekend! Angela
Hope you’ve since learned that you can write ANYTHING you want. Take care.
All the best at the Austin Film Festival!
Thanks, Norm. I”m both thrilled and terrified about Austin. I’ll keep you posted.